How to maximise chances of getting into medicine?

I'm only in year 11 however I'm really determined to study medicine at Uni. I'm predicted all grades 8 & 9 (struggling with English & Physics though) and have a tiny bit of work experience. Applied to sixth form and will be doing Biology, Chemistry and Maths, alongside an EPQ. I'll be taking the UKCAT within the next couple of years too obviously. How can I maximise my chances of getting into medicine? Thanks in advance.

Reply 1

username2224069

hospital/gp work experience, maybe do your EPQ focused on a medical related topic. you're in with a good chance of getting into med school with 8's and 9's! i did gcses last year and i got 2A*'s 7A's and 2B's and i'm hoping to apply for medicine too.
good luck! :smile:

Reply 2

username3497538

Take it one step at a time. I was exactly like you when I was in year 11. Invest all your energy into getting your GCSE's this year and don't worry about UKCAT and all the other stuff you mention :smile:

. Don't worry about getting any sort of hospital or GP work experience right now. But I'd definitely recommend starting some simple voluntary work in the summer after your exams (maybe just a few hours a week in a care home, I worked in a community centre). Long term voluntary commitment is really good and you can try out a few different things up until it's time for you to apply! Good Luck

Reply 3

Ukvoltaire

Original post by fii_xox

They are good grades. I also got 3A*s, 5A's and 3B's last year and I also want to apply for medicine. I recently just recieved an an offer for work experience at a hospital. Do you have any tips on how to make good use of it.

Reply 4

username3563646

Original post by fii_xox

Thanks

Yeah I'm planning to do it on a medicine-related topic. Good luck to you too!

Original post by hopefulmedic101

Thank you for your reply. I'm definitely working hard on my GCSE's. Yeah, I'll try and get some work experience after my exams. I live near a hospital, a GP clinic and some care homes so I'll probably volunteer at one of those. Thanks again :smile:

Reply 5

username3497538

Original post by SomeYear11Kid

Thanks

Yeah I'm planning to do it on a medicine-related topic. Good luck to you too!

Thank you for your reply. I'm definitely working hard on my GCSE's. Yeah, I'll try and get some work experience after my exams. I live near a hospital, a GP clinic and some care homes so I'll probably volunteer at one of those. Thanks again :smile:

If you're going to go for voluntary work in a hospital, as soon as you turn 16 make sure you get your name down. It took me around 6 months to get my hospital voluntary work started so I wasted a lot of time. You'll need to have a DBS check done and references approved if you want to go on the wards which takes a good while! (the role I applied for also had compulsory training days involved and a group interview). If there's one bit of advice I can give you, it's that you'll need to take initiative and keep pestering voluntary services or they'll literally never get you in. In the mean time, any sort of caring voluntary is equally as good! (pretty much nothing beats a voluntary role in a ward though, you get to experience secondary care first handedly and there's loads of opportunities to follow the Doctor's around!) Sorry if that scared you a bit, I just forgot to mention it before :smile:

Reply 6

username2224069

Original post by Ukvoltaire

try to get in shadowing a doctor while they treat a patient and take notes on what you find interesting about how they treat the patient. you could try and get a good rapport with patients by talking to them and generally just be pleasant in the hospital, you never know, one of them may volunteer to write a reference for you in your personal statement :smile:

hope you enjoy your hospital work experience :biggrin: